The Japanese artist Takashi Murakami is among the most popular contemporary artists in modern art.
His work is characterized by a combination of the most up-to-date techniques with the skill and precision of traditional Japanese art.
Deeply influenced by Japanese manga pop culture, Murakami has created a fantastical world inhabited by multiform, monstrous yet charming characters, the “mischievous” descendants of ancient myths.
In 2001 Takashi Murakami founded the company Kaikai Kiki Co., based in Tokyo with a branch in New York. Over the last decade, his work has also won recognition and been shown in the world’s leading exhibition spaces.
In 2008, Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential artists shaping the contemporary art scene.
The exhibition of Takashi Murakami‘s work at the Palace of Versailles will run from 14 September to 12 December. The move is an attempt to redefine the classical palace of Versailles as a living part of contemporary culture, as it opens its doors to contemporary art.
As the artist himself puts it, “the Palace of Versailles is one of the greatest symbols of Western history. It is the emblem of elegance, refinement and art, to a degree that many of us can only imagine.”
The works Murakami has curated for this exhibition are concoctions of a fantastical world of excess and transformation, the world of Versailles and of the artist’s imagination. As he says himself, “I am the Cheshire Cat welcoming Alice to Wonderland with his devilish grin, chattering away as she wanders through the palace.”
For more information about the exhibition, visit the website:
